Owner Comments:
The 1850-O Double Eagle as it is a first year issue of this demonination from any mint. These issue was, in all likelihood, minted from some of the first gold that come from the 1849 California gold rush. In fact, that is why the Double Eagle denomination was created by President Polk and Congress -- because of the quantity of gold coming from the California discovery. This New Orleans date is also more rare that commonly realized: in high grade it is more rare than the next three dates, 1851-O, 52-O and 53-O. And of course, the whole New Orleans Double Eagle date series is popular due to its rarity.
This PCGS AU58 example is an important coin, as it is a very sharply struck 1850-O with no significant marks, no defects, and original luster. Winter calls it the third best coin of the date he has seen, and felt it was important enough to picture on the front cover of his 2006 book on Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint. So, in fact, I would call this very PQ AU58 coin "famous" for that reason alone, and it is certainly a strong condition census coin. There are four mint state coins listed in the NGC Census (at PCGS there are none above AU58, and seven graded AU58). The two NGC MS60's lack strong eye appeal, one with a black planchett flaw in the second star on the obverse that sold at a Heritage Auction in Dec of 2006. I choose to wait for this coin (knowning it would eventually come available) as the representative of the issue in the Louisiana Purchase.